Lillian Copeland has been called "the most successful female discus thrower in US history".
28 Facts About Lillian Copeland
2.
Lillian Copeland held multiple titles in shot put and javelin throwing.
3.
Lillian Copeland won a silver medal in discus at the 1928 Summer Olympics, a gold medal in discus at the 1932 Summer Olympics, and gold medals in discus, javelin, and shot put at the 1935 Maccabiah Games in Mandatory Palestine.
4.
Lillian Copeland has been inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame, the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
5.
Lillian Copeland's father died when she was young, and after her mother remarried they moved to Los Angeles, California, and changed their surnames to Drossin.
6.
Lillian Copeland's stepfather was Abraham Copeland, the manager of a fruit and produce company.
7.
Lillian Copeland lived in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, and later in Pasadena, California, and attended Los Angeles High School, graduating in 1923.
8.
Lillian Copeland had a role as a basketball player in the silent 1927 comedy film The Fair Co-Ed.
9.
Lillian Copeland received a BA degree in political science in 1928.
10.
Lillian Copeland was the first Olympian who was an alumna of Los Angeles High School and the University of Southern California.
11.
Lillian Copeland competed during the formative decades of women's competition in track and field.
12.
Lillian Copeland competed first for the Pasadena Athletic and Country Club beginning in 1925, and from 1931 on for the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
13.
Lillian Copeland competed in running; in 1928 she was part of a women's relay team that set the US record in the quarter-mile.
14.
Lillian Copeland won nine Amateur Athletic Union championships between 1925 and 1932.
15.
Lillian Copeland won the AAU shot put championships 5 times.
16.
Lillian Copeland won the AAU discus throw title in 1926 and 1927, and set a new world record in the discus throw at the 1938 Olympic trials.
17.
Lillian Copeland set a new world record in the discus throw at the Olympic trials, at 115 feet, 8.5 inches.
18.
Lillian Copeland competed in her home town in the 1932 Summer Olympics after beating out Babe Didrikson to qualify, and won the gold medal in the discus with her last throw.
19.
Lillian Copeland was one of 24 former US Olympic champions who petitioned the International Olympic Committee in 1933 to move the Games from Germany.
20.
Lillian Copeland suggested that the situation of Nazi Germany was serious enough to warrant a change in location for the 1936 Olympics.
21.
Lillian Copeland supported a reputed idea to substitute the location of the 1936 Games to Tokyo instead of Germany.
22.
Lillian Copeland accused International Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage of "deliberately concealing the truth" about Hitler and Nazi Germany.
23.
Lillian Copeland argued that Brundage had little respect for the harmful effects of Nazi Germany's intense regime on members of the Jewish community.
24.
Lillian Copeland raised awareness on the danger of ignoring religious and racial hatred perpetrated by Nazi Germany.
25.
Lillian Copeland wanted people to know that the racial discrimination encouraged by members of Nazi Germany should not be overlooked, even in sports.
26.
Lillian Copeland competed at the 1935 Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv in Mandatory Palestine.
27.
Lillian Copeland joined the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in 1936, and worked there until she retired in 1960.
28.
Lillian Copeland died on July 7,1964, in Los Angeles, at 59 years of age at Sunset Hospital after a lengthy illness.